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Iron Man 3 Opens Big in China, But Extra Footage Falls Flat

When news broke that China would receive a special cut of Iron Man 3 with extra footage, fans were excited to hear what it would contain. Unfortunately, it seems as though many will likely be disappointed.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the footage doesn’t add much to the story — in fact, some of it is even used as product placement. At the beginning of the film, the question “What does Iron Man rely on to revitalize his energy?” came up onscreen, followed by the Chinese characters “Gu Li Duo,” referring to a milk drink on sale in convenience stores. Gu Li Duo shows up in another scene with Wang Xueqi, as his character Dr. Wu drinks a carton of the beverage. The rest of the footage reportedly centers around Chinese characters, with Dr. Wu having a telephone conversation while a television displays a news report of Chinese children cheering on Iron Man as well as a scene later in the film as he operates on Tony Stark and has a conversation with his assistant, played by Fan Bingbing.

No matter what the reaction is to the footage, the Chinese midnight premiere for Iron Man 3 was huge, with the film earning $21.5 million on Wednesday, according to SuperHeroHype. The sequel has already earned $307.7 million internationally, surpassing the international totals for Captain America: The First Avenger,Iron Man and Thor. In China, the opening day totals actually surpassed that of The Avengers’ entire opening weekend of $18 million.